A fresh start

A lot has happened over the past few months since I've last blogged, so just to prove that triplets do keep you busy! It hasn't been a very difficult transition from babies to toddlers for my kids - this phase I must admit has been quite manageable. The kids have been potty trained since April this year and this was all with the help of school. At first it was quite tiring after having to mop up floors time after time, until at the end of the day, there's a pile of my kids washing to do! With perseverance, they are now potty trained. I also have to admit that the transition from cot to bed went quite smoothly too. Each of them have fallen off their beds at least twice, but we're still not confident to take the side bars off yet from their beds to prevent them from falling. As for the triplets themselves, they have matured so much. Their personality traits is a true reflection of where Darren & I come from. Noah is very much like Darren - he's quiet, full of fun and considerate when it comes to sharing things with his silbings. Kayla on the other hand is very much like me - cheeky, sneaky and full of fun! She really enjoys teasing her brothers and no matter how much is sometimes frustrates her brothers, we can't not help but to chuckle to ourselves now and then. Evan has both traits - he has a temper when he doesn't get his way, but is also full of fun and enjoys teasing others. Just over the past few weeks they've been talking a lot and managing to put sentences together. Sometimes we find it difficult to understand what they're saying and it can become frustrating for both us and them, but we do eventually managed to figure what they're saying. Its really cute when they talk and the things they come out with, you could just melt by listening to it. They're still struggling with a few words: Dummy = bummy Soup = poup Kau foo (Uncle Cliff) = Kau Poo Kung Kung = Doong Doong As you can tell, we're still struggling to wean them off their dummies. I was amazed at how easy we weaned them off their bottles and assumed it would be too with their dummies....but we were wrong. We're still working on it. If anyone has any suggestions, it'll be a great help! We are quite fortunate that they only take the dummy at night for bedtime, so just another reason why we're not rushing into it.

Our kids are famous too! Here in SA, we have the South African Multiple Birth Association (SAMBA) which is a support group for families that have multiples. Earlier this year they started publishing a "multiples" magazine, and for the June edition we were privileged to have been asked for our kids to be on the front cover! It took quite awhile for the photographer to get the perfect pic and after quite a bit of pictures, we picked the perfect one! I can't believe that our kids will be 3 in four months time and just to also prove that time sure flies! Overall its been fun and as any parent will agree,we all have our moments whether it be one child or more but at the end, its all worth it!

Bubbles, bubbles & bubbles

Last night before the kids bedtime, we allowed them to hover around bedroom only to discover that they emptied our side tables. Its amazing to find what you've stored in your table after such a long time! Anyway, Kayla managed to find a bottle of bubbles which I probably kept aside for one day but forgot about it since it was stuck in my side table. With all 3 of them in the room, I opened the bottle and started blowing. They had so much fun with it and kept on getting excited about it! It was so cute how they reacted to it..the boys would laugh and try and pop the bubbles, and Kayla in her feminine way would gently try to catch a bubble that would just end up popping in her hand anyway. I don't think I've blowed bubbles so fast to produce to so many bubbles at one time in my life, eventually I got tired of it and the kids ended up rubbing their eyes from all the soap! The video clip shows exactly how they reacted and compare the picture to how they reacted when they were just a few months old! I had quite an interesting weekend with Evan. I'm ashamed to admit that his sensitivity side comes from me - every now and then I could see how he prepares to bite his sister or brother and before anything, in a stern voice, I'd tell him not to bite or hit or whatever you can see he has rolled up his sleeve. Love and behold, his lower lip extends itselfs and he starts crying! It happened a couple of times and I would just sit and wonder what was going on? But to make things all better for himself, one of the nanny's would pick him up and he'd be all better, to be honest, he'd just start laughing! His already getting away with it!We decided that at some point he'd have to deal with the shouting and we have to stick to our discipline methods (if and when that comes!). I always wonder when is the best time for it....

Which way to go?!

The kids are almost 15 months already and we can't believe how much they've grown since they've turned one! Its been about 3 weeks now that Evan and Kayla have started to walk steadily and recently in the past week Noah too. I must admit though that we've had quite an eventful and hectic 3 weeks.

About 4 weeks ago, Evan came down with a chest infection which kept him been at home for a few days from school. It even meant a trip to the pulmonologist. There wasn't anything serious just the fact that whatever infection he had picked up had gone down to his chest. Also given the history of asthma in the family, chances are the kids would get it too. After much administering of medication to Evan, he recovered quite quickly. After a few days Noah got really sick. It basically just happened overnight. It was a horrible experience! He had a very high temperature and wasn't able to keep his food down and he was such a miserable guy, even a trip to our GP didn't do the trick.

The weekend finally came and we thought that he seemed a little better but still not his usual self. The Monday came and the school alerted us that his temperature was close to 39 and suggested we fetch him to take him home. Totally unaware of what would happen, we took the evening as any other evening. Since we fetched all of them early from school, we gave them an early bath with dinner to follow. It was a shocking feeling to hear my nanny shouting for me upstairs while she was dressing Noah, he had had a fever fit. Basically its where his temperatures have risen so high that his body can't handle it and he has a fit. It was one of the most scariest visions to have to see when you see your child laying limp with blue lips, eyes rolled back and not breathing. An experience a Mother would not want to ever experience. He managed to start breathing on his own eventually after a few minutes (seemed like forever but was just a few minutes), and we quickly made a dash to the Linksfield hospital. After waiting for about 45 min (which almost seemed like hours), the emergency GP on call finally came. He did the usual checks, chest xrays and blood tests, and came with the conclusion that he had an apnoea attack! We were quite sceptical with this diagnosis and decided to take him to our paeditrician for a second opinion two days later. We weren't expecting the reaction that we got from our paeds, only for him to tell us that he'd have to have Noah admitted into the hospital and have further chest xrays done. He had suspicions, which ultimately were correct - Noah had pneumonia! Just another heart breaking experience. I didn't know how to feel, there was probably 10 million thoughts going through my mind especially where I had Evan and Kayla to think about too. It was a tough nite! My heart would melt everytime I looked at Noah when tests were been done while he cried his heart out. At the same time, I tried to remain strong but at the end of the evening, just couldn't hold up. It was such an overwhelming experience, and it almost seemed as if Noah knew how we were feeling with him being sick as he would be such a good sport and tried to be brave and would still try to play, smile and laugh when there weren't any tests been done.
Darren was amazing and had the patience and strength during this difficult time. I've been through so much during my life and he has been such a great support. I must admit that he has been under a lot of stress himself and he took on a lot of duties at home and at work. But alas, the worst is over and we're all ok. I think its just a matter of trying to find time to catch up on some good rest which will be awhile again as we have all 3 kids walking! Its been from one milestone to another for them and we're so happy that's its all happening so quickly. We were told that they would be delayed with their milestones as they were born premature, but just this year they seemed to have "caught up" from walking, to using the pincer method of picking up things, to crawling backwards to been able to sort out shape blocks, etc. Its so amazing to watch! Yes it is busy just thinking about, but its triple rewarding! We just have to keep on watching them as they all walk in different directions! I've been told to invest in leashes, but really, they need to explore too and I just had to invest in really good running shoes!

Finally an update!

<25th December 2010- Christmas Day:
My inlaws had flown in from PE for the Christmas holidays and both Darren and I were looking forward to the break. We only realised the night of Christmas eve, that we didn't have a night nanny, therefore we'd be the ones having to watch over the kids during the course of the night. Oh boy, it was hectic! I don't really know if I thought I was been clever and stupid in thinking that I could do it on my own! I managed, but I was so tired the next day! Initially, I was quite excited about spending our first Christmas with the kids,but I was just too tired to think about it and instead slept in for an hour or so while my in laws took care of the kids. Thankfully we had family over for Christmas lunch, so that kept me busy during the course of the day. Like the kids,I was quite cranky at the end of the day.

We got the kids dressed up in the red outfits which they didn't seem to comfortable in. Thankfully it turned out to be perfect day, all the kids swam and lunch was great!



It was the first time ever that our Christmas tree was filled with presents and naturally, were all mostly for the kids! We thought that they'd get excited about opening presents, but I ended up doing it all. They did get awesome presents!

With Christmas day gone, we started preparing for our road trip down to PE. We decided to go down to PE for about ten days and spend New Years there. It took me a couple of hours trying to pack for the whole family; ensuring there would be enough clothes for the 4 seaons that PE experience.; ensuring there would be enough dinner for the road; ensuring....everything! Nevertheless, we finally left Jo'burg without any hassles. There was 10 of us travelling in my "bus"; So you can imagine what a full house it was, but at least we knew there was enough help on the road! Fortunately, the trip went off smoothly, better than expected.

Port Elizabeth:
It was a full 10 days of rainy weather! I think we only managed to take the kids out the house for 1 day. Of course, it stopped raining the day we left!

We quickly took advantage of the day and decided to take the kids to the beach; their first experience on beach sand and seawater! It was a windy day, nonetheless, we went ahead with the plan. It was a decision of which beach to go to forgetting that it was the second day after New Years and the beaches would be jam packed! I think we drove for just over an hour trying to find a suitable spot where it wasn't so busy. By the time we finally found a spot, the wind had picked up. Quickly, we went to the beach, dipped the kids feet into the water and headed back to the car! The amount of time we spent at the beach wasn't even a quarter of the time we spent driving in the car! We were there for literally 10 minutes and left! Locals at the beach could probably tell that we were "Vaalies", as none of us were dressed for the beach; the kids still wore trackpants and sweaters and to make things worse, I walked down with my huge camera! It was great to get out though for a little while! I thought the kids would get restless, but they were quite good!

08th January 2011, the Triplets 1st birthday:

The days leading to their birthday party was quite an eventful one. They started nursery school 2 days prior to their birthday, so it gave me enough time to prepare and make all the necessary arrangements for their party. My Mom in law flew in for their party and my father in law surprised us by joining her too.

Their birthday party was mostly a family affair and very close friends. It was great having Mel around as she was a great help with everything including the kids! Mel can vouch as to how busy things are with the kids these days!

We were although concerned about the weather as it had been raining the whole week. It was a coolish day and it rained for a little while but the other kids still managed to have fun! My kids on the other hand, got spoilt to the point that I didn't know who they were with and what they were eating! At least they got to experience the same taste of food the adults were having. Our menu consisted of chicken chow mein, fried drumsticks, potato and greek salad! It was awesome!

Their birthday cake on the other hand didn't turn out well the way I would have like it to; I wanted it to be in the shape of a paw print, even though the kids didn't exactly have a theme as such, but I used animals of the wild as part of a them. Ultimately, nothing beats a cream vanilla sponge cake!

I think it was quite an exciting day for all of us and an event that we'd never forget!

AND THE RACE BEGINS!!!!

All I can say is that its been busy busy busy! The kids are now 10 months and over the past two weeks we've been running on our toes to check that Noah and Kayla haven't rolled down the staircase or bumped their heads on the floor or hit their heads on the wall.....yes, they both have started crawling! With Noah its been more of a bum crawl, but is pretty quick to get where he needs to. He uses his left hand to push himself to his destination. Kayla on the other hand crawls on all fours. Just over the past few days has she been able to pull herself up to stand and is quite steady. If you're wondering about Evan, his trying to brave the fall and tumbles but just can't seem to do it. He manages to get fall forward to get on all fours but then does this rocking thing and falls back onto his butt! But he's really trying :) The top everything, they're all teething. Both Noah's bottom teeth have popped out; Kayla and Evan's teeth is peaking, but if you see the picture of Evan, he can't really seem to decide what expression to pull but you can definitely see that his teeth is bothering him. All is going well otherwise. The kids have definitely settled into school now. Just a few more weeks until they're on holiday and I have to decide what to do with them while I'm still at work; I guess I have time to decide as long as I know there's help. Darren's parents and sister flew up to Joburg last weekend and it was great having them around. At least this time they had a decent sized room to sleep in including a nice sleeper couch for Deidre, but also a bigger house and kitchen to move around. They really enjoyed the kids, more so since they've started crawling and interacting. This past Sunday we also went to Christopher's 5th birthday party. Our family alone with the kids took up the whole sandpit! It was my trio, their cousins Ethan and Connor and their friend Luke. Seemed like they had fun in the sandpit, and quite honestly, I'm quite happy that they're getting used to the outdoors and seeing lots of people. I think school definitely has helped them in terms of noise, screaming kids and lots of people around. Their cousin Ethan really loves them and stayed with them the whole time. Next visit is Christmas! Can you believe that Christmas is just in 7 weeks?! So much to look forward to - our first Christmas as a family, Darren's family flying up to spend Christmas with us, their first meeting with their Aunt Mel from Oz and mostly, their 1st birthday in January! Can't wait for that and Mel's looking so forward to meeting them for the second time. I just wish my whole family were together for the kids first Christmas! We'll be thinking of Cliff and Cyn! Miss you guys and mostly my Mom.... During feed times, we've been teaching them to "chew" properly with all the actions that you can imagine. So far so good! Its so cute the way Evan and Noah do it and Kayla just does it in her feminine way. If they gag on their food at a later stage, then we know that they don't fully understand "chew"!

01st October 2010

Finally we have moved into our new home. I feel bad that the kids have been through a lot in one week - first their start to daycare and now the move. It took them awhile to get settled the first night. I think with all the helpers, boxes and their Mom stressing out because she couldn't find their clothes and bedding in the boxes, didn't help with the situation. I felt so terrible that night thinking that I should have kept aside clothing and toiletries for us all. Even funnier that Darren and I had to rummage through all the boxes that night looking for clothes to wear for work the next day!

Most of our packing has been done, just our clothing left to do. Thanks to all the helpers that we had, otherwise I'd be going crazy trying to figure out what goes where! I felt lost when I did some packing, not used to all the space! Its also amazing to see how much stuff I had in our small little house and how I managed to fit it in. I think I did a really good job of hiding things.

We have a few things to sort out like connecting up pipes for my washing machine (I have a toploader and the space in the kitchen is only frontloader friendly) and the alarm system. Yesterday I was quite surprised that Darren had gone through the night without watching any TV - apparently the previous owner had taken out the satellite dish. We've been too tired to argue with the estate agent regarding this. As a result, I was wondering how long Darren would be able to go on without any TV. To my dismay, I heard him making an appointment with the TV guy to come and reconnect our DSTV and install a new satellite! So last night, I gotto watch Brothers & Sisters, so I shouldn't really complain :)

Yesterday afternoon, the principle from the school that the kids go to called to raise her concerns about Kayla. According to her her temperature was slightly high, although I wasn't too concerned about her temperature being 36.5. Also, she'd been crying the whole day and scratching her left ear. I dashed off to fetch them from school and went straight home. The first thing I did was call our GP to see if she could do a housecall. She didn't sound keen, but since she didn't have anything planned for the night, she was prepared to help out.

When I went to fetch them and got into the car, Kayla seemed fine. In actual fact, she started laughing and talking! Bugger! I said she probably didn't like school and just wanted to come home! I wonder who she takes after! I cancelled the appointment with our GP as I decided that I would try to monitor her myself and dose her up with Calpol if necessary. This morning she was fine as well, although has a bit of a runny nose too. I blame teething for all of this, so will see. If she gets worse, then I'll definitely take her to see the doc. I was contemplating to send her to school today, and decided to. So far no phone call from the school :)

Its almost end of my work day now and I have to fetch the kids from school as we head into the weekend! Looking forward to the weekend as well in our new home! Apparently its going to be 30 deg tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll be having our first dip in the swimming pool!

Will post some pictures soon!!!

Tuesday, 21st September 2010

I know I've been terrible for not updating my blog for such a long time. Things have been so crazy recently both at work and at home so I haven't really had much time to write and update anything.

In just a few weeks, my little one's will be 9 months! Can you believe it? Today they had their measle shots; they were champs although I think it helped that my midwife gave them their first chocolate to bite into while she jabbed them! Poor boys, squealed for a bit, then stopped! As for Kayla, she was totally oblivious to what was happening and continued biting on her chocolate and probably didn't even realise that she was getting a shot! Maybe its because she's got chubby legs :)

The kids start their first day at nursery school next week. Its going to be a freebie week and I'll be able to send Mary, their nanny, with just so she can see what's happening and hopefully to see that they're ok and that there won't be any serious problems at the school. I've been speaking to quite a few people who sent their kids early to daycare and they've said nothing can go wrong, and that its quite beneficial for them in the long run. I'm feeling a bit excited about it but at the same time sad that they're going to be away from me for the whole day! Absolutely a normal feeling for a working Mom I hear!

At the same time, we're making our move into our new home next weekend and we're quite excited about it! I think its more the space the I'm looking forward as well as the reduced amount of travelling between home and work! Traffic's been crazy recently, that on some days it takes me over an hour to get home. Not too fun when you have three crying babies in the car and you're sitting in traffic! I think sometimes it gets so loud that the car next to us can hear them! Thank goodness for tinted windows! :)

The kids are growing at such a fast pace - they're sitting on their own with no support and seem quite comfortable that way. It helps me a lot that I don't have to pay full attention to them all the time, so it gives time to go into the kitchen to make supper while they play on their playmat with all their toys. A lot of people have said that they should start crawling soon, but quite honestly, I'm in no hurry for that to happen (can you imagine how busy it would be at home; nevermind that, what will happen once they start walking?!).

You can definitely see their different personalities now and definitely are aware of familiar people and strangers.

Anyway, its a long weekend coming up and Darren and I are looking forward to our trip away. My inlaws are flying in and will be babysitting for the whole weekend! So definitely excited about the break!